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I pull my knees up and hug myself. “Are you sure the wild streak doesn’t really come from your side? I’ve read the tabloids, Dad, you’re a lady killer. A real catch. You bed a lot of women.” My cheeks flush at my words, but he needs to know I read the papers too.
The frown deepens but nothing derails my father. He’s a man who can hold his own in a room full of rich businessmen in suits. But even I know I’m the apple of his eye.
“Don’t talk like that.”
I roll my lips. “Silver fox?” I make a gagging sound.
He relents and chuckles. Dad’s better when he’s being playful, which isn’t often.
“I don’t even want to know what that means. Stop changing the subject.”
“I should be the one screening all these women you date, Dad. That way, your heart won’t ever be broken again.”
He looks at me with all sincerity and says, “You can’t break something that’s unfixable, Aspyn. My heart isn’t up for the taking.”
My lips part and the words get lost as I watch my dad’s sad face. He loved my mom.
When she left, she never reached out to either of us, as far as I know. She was just gone. I never really knew why.
Maybe she felt like a bird in a cage, too. In some ways, I know exactly how she feels.
I wonder about her, and over the years I’d invent ways in my mind of her trying to contact me. I asked my father on many occasions where she was, but he shut down the conversation and said he didn’t know, only that he’d heard she’d moved to Italy.
Fucking Italy.
“As long as you’re being…you know…careful,” I say, not relishing the idea of having a sibling at twenty-three.
His eyes go slightly wide. “Thanks for the tip, but I’m good.”
“There are plenty of gold diggers out there,” I go on, waving my hands in the air. “Just saying. Some women will do anything to pin a rich man down.”
He pinches the bridge of his nose and shakes his head. “What the hell am I gonna do with you?”
I smile. “Hide me, for my own protection?”
His eyes meet mine once more. “I’m sorry I have to do this. If there was any other way…”
I nod, knowing that there’s a lot he’s not telling me.
A death threat is one thing, but this is something else. I’ve never seen my father so rattled.
“Why so far away? New Orleans?” It’s a far cry from LA.
“I’ll be purchasing an apartment downtown so you’ll be safe.”
That’s a relief. For a second there I thought I’d be staying at the biker clubhouse. Something that makes my nose wrinkle at the very idea.
Of course, my father doesn't believe in renting.
“If I didn’t love you so much, I’d think you’d lost your marbles,” I say.
“Coming from my wayward daughter, I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“Can we Skype?”
“Of course. But you’ll need to change your cell.”
“Why? Nobody has texted me on this number.”
